I’ve known Liz Harris socially as a fellow-writer for several years. We met when we worked on the committee for the Historical Novel Society Oxford conference and then subsequently as members of the Romantic Novelists Association – bonding over gin and tonic or a glass of wine! At the time Liz had six published novels and seemed set on staying in the “trad” world. When she told me she had decided to turn indie and asked for some advice I was more than happy to help. Since then, I have been blown away by the way Liz has embraced the indie world, eager to learn, soaking up information like a sponge, and never being afraid to reach out and ask for help – particularly via the Alliance of Independent Authors Facebook group. I was so impressed with her vigour and enthusiasm I had to invite her onto the blog to talk about her experience.

What made you finally take the plunge, Liz?

Last year, having had four historical and two contemporary novels traditionally published, I left my publisher after I received an unacceptable contract. Talks with another publisher were deferred at lockdown until the end of the year, and, unwilling to wait that long, I decided to publish my novels myself.

The first two things I did were join The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) and sign up to Mark Dawson’s Self-Publishing 101 course. Being non-techie, I knew I’d need help with understanding basic terminology. I couldn’t have made better decisions.

Between lockdown and May 1st, the date upon which The Dark Horizon, my first indie-published novel, was released, was a massive learning curve, and I’m still learning. I’m going to put my experience into context, as much depends upon the time that an author can give his or her business.

I didn’t have any pressure to finish a second book while at the same time publishing and promoting the first. Owing to my growing dissatisfaction, I hadn’t submitted anything to my publisher for three years until I relented in January 2019. I’d continued writing, though, and by the time I went indie, I already had several novels written and edited.

I didn’t have to home-school my sons. A devoted mother, I instantly offered to home-school them during lockdown. But being independently minded – they’re 39 and 40 – they declined. I imagine that was a huge relief, Liz! 

I didn’t need to shop for food and essentials before or during lockdown. With weekly deliveries by the excellent shops in the South Oxfordshire village where I live, I’d no need to leave the house in search of eggs, bread, gin.

I didn’t need to spend significant time in formatting my book. From the outset, I decided that being indie was a business, and I invested in it. Thanks to ALLi and the 101 course, I learned about Vellum, the brilliant formatting programme for Macs. I have a Mac, so I bought Vellum. Getting Vellum changed my life too, Liz! One of the best investments I made – along with joining ALLi.

So what were the challenges you faced?

Managing with only twenty-four hours in the day

We need more hours in the day as there’s never an end of things to do.

Knowing what to do, and when.

At the same time as publishing and promoting The Dark Horizon, I started a newsletter with a free book offer, which meant familiarising myself with Mailerlite and Bookfunnel. Doing several new things simultaneously was far from ideal. And I made many other mistakes, too, such as confusing what was in the US and what in the UK. My timing and understanding will improve with each book I publish, but I suspect that timing will always remain a challenge.

 Knowing how to do the things that have to be done.

Despite the excellent ALLi and 101 tutorials, there were a huge number of fine points about which I needed guidance. Everything that sounded fairly easy, turned out to be so much more complicated in reality. Fortunately, the ALLI and 101 forums offered invaluable help.

Knowing with which companies to sign up, and how to use their platforms.

A number of companies provide the same services for authors. Deciding which to join was very time-consuming, and in the end, felt a bit hit and miss.

Getting reviews.

Reviews raise a book’s visibility and are essential. Here I missed my traditional publisher, which contacted their list of followers whenever I had a new release. Their followers frequently bought the book and posted a review. I had no such list. To make getting reviews even harder, I hadn’t realised Amazon’s terms and conditions prevent you sending out review copies (ARCs) if, like mine, your book is enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited programme. Putting the book on NetGalley and the like, which I’d intended, was forbidden. Garnering reviews, therefore, continues to be very difficult. (It will get easier, Liz. Particularly as you build a newsletter following. My indie books have more reviews than my trade published ones!)

Getting the right daily balance between writing and promoting.

I originally intended to write each day until 3pm and then do some promotion, but it didn’t work out like that. There was too much to learn, and quickly. For the three weeks prior to publication, therefore, I abandoned writing and concentrated solely on learning the basics of self-publishing. Once the book had been released, did I do as I’d planned and write until 3pm and then stop for promotion? Not at all! All the facets of self-publishing are so interesting that they tend to encroach upon my writing time. This will always be something I have to watch. Haha! Tell me about it!

I know it’s early days still, but what are you seeing or hoping to see as the rewards of being Indie?

It is all so interesting!!

 I’ve loved every minute of being in control of bringing my novel into the world. Every stage of its production and promotion has been fascinating. For the first time, I’ve been able to see the sales’ stats, and that’s thrilling. And I’ve been able to have …

… my choice of cover, my choice of title.

No longer are these important matters decided by someone else – I make the decisions.

Friendship and support.

The writing community is a very friendly, supportive community, no matter how you’re published. But I’ve been particularly struck by, and grateful for, the degree of help and friendship I’ve received from the indie community and from the help teams in Bookfunnel, Mailerlite, Booksweeps, etc. You are not alone!

Money?

I hope there’ll be financial rewards, too, but I’m realistic enough to know that I need to publish more books for there to be a chance of that happening. I very much hope that my investment in my business will eventually yield a good return. But if it doesn’t, I’ll still have had many hours of real pleasure publishing my novels myself, and that’s the most important thing.

Thanks so much for sharing that, Liz. I am confident you’ll see great success and you certainly deserve to do so. You write great books, you work hard and you approach it with a positive spirit.

As someone who is now six years into being indie (with two traditionally published novels as well) I can endorse what Liz says. It is indeed a steep learning curve.

For others considering going indie, I’d add two things, based on my own experience. Be patient – especially until you have several books up there to work with. Focus on what you enjoy doing and don’t expect to do everything. What works for one author may be different from another. 

About Liz

After graduating in Law in the UK, Liz moved to California where she led a very varied life – from cocktail waitressing on Sunset Strip to CEO of a large Japanese trading company. Upon returning to England, she completed a degree in English and then taught for a number of years before developing her writing career.

Find out more about Liz and her books on her website: www.lizharrisauthor.com or via her Amazon page. You can connect with her on twitter: @lizharrisauthor and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizharrisauthor